Pauli, that's true, but independence and control are not necessarily related in that way. The more you do it yourself, the more work it is. "Not working" is independence. If the automated approach gets you "close enough for government work", less control can be just fine.

Senior Member

Pauli, that's true, but independence and control are not necessarily related in that way. The more you do it yourself, the more work it is. "Not working" is independence. If the automated approach gets you "close enough for government work", less control can be just fine.

No, I want FULL CONTROL. Like I tell my computer where to save my files (not in the same hard drive the PC is working on). So even if my computer decided to be independent and do crazy things by itself (due to "infection" or system error problems), my files are safe and intact in another hard drive. I also tell my PC not to download updates automatically (disable it) and not to use everything that is by Microsoft. I don't tell my PC to do auto-backup for me. I wanna do it myself manually so I know that my important files are safe.

Senior Member

No, I want FULL CONTROL. Like I tell my computer where to save my files (not in the same hard drive the PC is working on). So even if my computer decided to be independent and do crazy things by itself (due to "infection" or system error problems), my files are safe and intact in another hard drive. I also tell my PC not to download updates automatically (disable it) and not to use everything that is by Microsoft. I don't tell my PC to do auto-backup for me. I wanna do it myself manually so I know that my important files are safe.

Some of the concerns people are expressing are just a matter of settings--storing on another drive, not using compression, storing as individual files, storing to multiple locations, etc. Also, good backup software verifies the backup. If you routinely backup entire directory trees, the process is simple but it eats up huge amounts of disk space, takes forever, and makes it harder to find specific files that you might want to recover. If you selectively backup directories, the list of directories can get extensive and doing it manually becomes a real chore, and introduces its own risks, like missing a directory.

I use Memeo (Backup Premium). You setup exactly what you want backed up and where you want it backed up to. It saves files individually and I've chosen not to use compression. You decide how many generations of backup you want (implemented file by file). You can have it save to more than one location or to backup the backup. It runs in the background during idle time, keeping the backup current. It also verifies everything it backs up.

Senior Member

Not the way I'm doing it. My files are on separate hard drive. That in itself is a way of backing it up as being away from the destructive system errors on PC. Yes, the only manual part is just setting the save location. My NAS is mapped to my PC. So I just manually move/copy my important files (not everything) there and it's backed-up right away to my NAS which is on RAID 1 mode.

Senior Member

Not the way I'm doing it. My files are on separate hard drive. That in itself is a way of backing it up as being away from the destructive system errors on PC. Yes, the only manual part is just setting the save location. My NAS is mapped to my PC. So I just manually move/copy my important files (not everything) there and it's backed-up right away to my NAS which is on RAID 1 mode.

The files you're referring to are the easy part. Like you say, just copy everything; it's 100% your files. I'm referring primarily to the stuff in appdata, which is what creates a challenge. Even after cleanup, on a good day my appdata contains 20,000 files in 6,000 folders, over 3 GB. 99% of that is flotsam that I don't want to back up, update, or wade through later, or tie up the backup program trying to keep up with it. For example, all of the crap in the browser cache is in there, and would be constantly growing in a backup. I created a surgical backup plan for that stuff, but it is still dozens of folders. That is where the chore comes in--doing that part manually.

BTW, badrobot, I just noticed that the image in your signature is animated. That's pretty cool! Hey, is there a way to "Like" a signature?

Senior Member

The files you're referring to are the easy part. Like you say, just copy everything; it's 100% your files. I'm referring primarily to the stuff in appdata, which is what creates a challenge. Even after cleanup, on a good day my appdata contains 20,000 files in 6,000 folders, over 3 GB. 99% of that is flotsam that I don't want to back up, update, or wade through later, or tie up the backup program trying to keep up with it. For example, all of the crap in the browser cache is in there, and would be constantly growing in a backup. I created a surgical backup plan for that stuff, but it is still dozens of folders. That is where the chore comes in--doing that part manually.

BTW, badrobot, I just noticed that the image in your signature is animated. That's pretty cool! Hey, is there a way to "Like" a signature?